


Nesting Instincts

by Not_You



Series: Masks And Other Stuff [7]
Category: Watchmen (Comic), Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, M/M, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Pregnancy, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 18:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10792773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_You/pseuds/Not_You
Summary: After someone else wrote a devastating fill about the OT3 breaking up, there was a prompt to write something to counteract the sad.  So here they are, having a baby.





	1. Chapter 1

Three months ago, it had been Laurie to say, "Fuck it. Au naturale for a year. If we can't pull it off by then, there's probably something wrong with all of us." 

Three years ago, a kid had seemed ludicrous, the last thing they should be trying to do, and the last thing Laurie wanted to do. That's enough time to change everything, though, and now she feels like a Christmas present. She's pretty sure every woman gets a little of this. After all, there's a whole other person inside her right now, even if it does look more like a fish at this point. More than the bare fact of her pregnancy is that she's not sure who knocked her up. They've had an equal chance after all, and she laughs at herself for being high on hormones when she watches them, constructing hypothetical children with her eyes and Walter's hair, or with Dan's hands and her mouth.

She knows Walter doesn't want it to be him, sure that he carries some kind of taint in the depths of his bones. It gives her a perverse and deep desire for this to be his kid. She's always loved proving him wrong, after all. She watches them both at dinner, and figures she'll tell them after. Dan is glowing, and tuning back in, she's not surprised to hear that he's helping Adrian with some sanctuary, containing (among other things) the last condors in the world. It's an opening, and if the news takes Walter funny and makes him unable to eat, he's got some pot roast under his belt to fortify him.

"Great, the kid might actually have a chance to see one." 

She can't look at either of them for a moment, but raises her eyes to their stunned silence. And then they're both by her chair, and she's covered in kisses and hugged within an inch of her life. Adrian says alcohol is the mindkiller and has given it up, so they have a bottle of all-natural sparkling raspberry something or other on hand to toast the news with, in the Waterford that formed part of Dan's dowry. Tangled together on the couch, they discuss names, circumcision (Walter is against), and everything else, kisses now raspberry-flavored.

Telling the world comes next. Sally is delighted and positive it'll be a girl, Hollis is delighted and doesn't give two shits what it is, and the Dreibergs are ecstatic whether it's genetically Dan's or not. Rolf doesn't seem to know what to do with the information, but she didn't expect him to, and tells him gently that he's welcome to see it any time he likes, since it's his grandchild. There's one gap in the world, and Laurie tries to be surprised when she comes home early one day to find Sylvia Kovacs in her kitchen, but she can't really manage it. She has the same scrubbed, born again (not Born Again), and faintly embarrassed look she always does in dealings with her son. The two of them look remarkably alike, on opposite edges of the kitchen table, with coffee between them to mark their poignant truce. Laurie's not surprised when Sylvia clears out quickly, leaving her and Walter to sit in the empty kitchen for a while, watching the sunlight on the table. She's never known what to say, but holding him usually works.


	2. Chapter 2

They're all in bed together when her water breaks, at three am, as is the custom. Laurie's sleeping like the dead, having spent the whole day in an uncharacteristic frenzy of cleaning, and it's actually Dan who wakes up first, wrapped around Walter and bewildered to be cold and wet. The others follow quickly, Laurie because it feels like the kid is trying to kick its way out, Walter out of bed and dressed in about three seconds after Dan shakes him and tells him it's time. 

They don't take it personally when Laurie curses them both the entire way to the hospital. Walter drives, because he needs something to do. He might not take it personally, but being screamed at and occasionally hit by pretty much any female human makes him edgy, and right now he's way beyond edgy. Dan takes the abuse of his person and his car (Walter has never learned to find 'em without grinding 'em) with the sublime grace he's sometimes capable of.

It's fucking horrible, but her mother was right. You do forget all about it. Probably the only way to keep gyna sapiens from fucking killing herself. No way would you do this eight times if it stuck with you. Especially not with having to fight with the fucking nurses about the stirrups, but when they hand her the little squaller, it's suddenly all worth it. Dan and Walter look as exhausted as she feels, without the hormones to help. 

Dan is slumped into a chair, and it touches her heart to see how Walter's legs are shaking as he peels himself off the wall, where he's been keeping out of the way. She's barely awake, but it's a girl and she's latched onto Laurie's tit like it's last call, and Dan lurches up to hold Walter's hand as he weeps helplessly. The baby's too new and red to look like anybody yet, but somehow they all know she's Walter's, and he's the one who signs the birth certificate, his hand shaking.

At home, with Laurie passed out and the baby doing the same, they study them both, feeling too watchful to sleep. They've never seen her so soft, and of course the kid is a stranger, who must be examined at their leisure. Her first name is Caroline, for Walter's missing father. Her second, Efrat, for Dan's grandmother. It's not the best combination in the world, but it suits.

"Didn't want her to be mine." Walter murmurs.

"Fuck, Walter." Dan says, voice thick with tears of his own. "When the hell have I ever won a race with you?"

He has to laugh at that, and they finally sleep, one on each side of their aching, exhausted Laurie to keep her warm.


End file.
